Neopolitan Days
by Waters Knight
Summary: Infiltrating Beacon Academy and posing as Haven Academy students alongside Cinder, Emerald and Mercury might seem like a daunting task to some, but to a certain girl with a parasol it is an opportunity that she couldn't possibly pass up. Will Cinder's dastardly plan succeed, or will it all crumble beneath their feet? - AU and mostly Neo centric.
1. Prologue

**"We will be docking at the landing bays shortly."** Came the feminine voice from the airship loud speaker over the talk of the students on board as they talked among themselves. **"Please prepare your belongings."**

A short girl with multicolored hair by the name of Neopolitan looked up towards the source of the voice, specifically at a speaker that was positioned in the corner of the main airship lobby. Seats protruding out from the metallic walls allowed passengers to take a seat and large clear windows allowed said passengers to get a great view of the outside from within the safety of the ship.

Neopolitan, Neo for short, sat on one of the seats that lined the walls, having to managed to snag a row of seats somewhat towards the back where she and her "team" could sit. In actuality, Neo wasn't even a student of Atlas and neither were any of her associates.

"Team CNEM", short for Cinnamon, was the name the four went by with Cinder being the leader of the made up team. Through pulling a few strings and performing some shady tricks they had managed to sneak their way into the Atlessian student exchange program with Beacon Academy. All apart of the plan, Neo was told. All they had to do in the meantime was blend in with the lot of them. Such a mundane way to pass the time if you asked her.

"It's about time we got here." Mercury Black said as he sat laid back, his arms resting behind his head up against the wall.

Next to him sat Emerald Sustrai, the green haired thief that was the "E" of the team. "Yeah," she agreed with her silver haired partner with a nod. "I'm not sure how much longer I could stay cooped up in this metal death trap." She glanced to her left where their so called leader sat.

"I expect you two to not draw attention to yourselves." The older woman warned, her almost fiery gaze on the two partners. "This is a delicate operation and there will be _consequences_ if it is compromised."

In return Emerald gave Cinder a quick, almost awkward smile. "We got this Cinder. Trust me."

"Yeah, what she said." Mercury chimed in, shifting his position so he was no longer resting his arms behind his head.

Cinder turned her attention towards the main exit doors, which other students were beginning to pool around as the airship began to pull in for docking. Mercury gave a grin, beginning to stand up. "Well? About time we got this show on the road."

Seeing the other three begin to rise from their seats to join the others, Neo did the same- allowing her heels to touch the metallic floor as she stood. Closed parasol in one hand, small bag of belongings in the other, Neo found herself pretty set to go. She hadn't forgotten anything she was pretty sure, as she wasn't up and about during the flight from Atlas. Instead she stayed in her spot listening to what Cinder, Emerald and Mercury had to say to each other. Truth be told, she was amused by the other three. At times, they worked _perfectly_ \- while others they were dysfunctional. Delightfully so, in fact.

Neo had a feeling her time at Beacon would be an interesting one.

Eventually, the four made their way off the airship, moving through the slough of students who then began to spread out once they were given room. Atlessian airships lingered nearby and overhead, certainly giving the military a presence at the school.

"Looks like Atlas is bringing out the heavy duty equipment this time around." Mercury commented, looking up to see a ship fly by and the roar of the engine fill the air before fading away.

At that point, Neo proceeded to tune out the trio's talk, instead focusing more on what else was going on around her. It's not like anything that they were talking about was necessarily_ important_ anyway.

The school was... large, to say the least. Tall structures towering overhead in the distance, including the main Beacon spire. The place was huge - it certainly looked like a delightful place to explore when she got the chance.

As they strolled along, Neo lost in thought, the other three began to head towards one of the main school lobby buildings. Neo paused, watching them walk towards their new destination. Perhaps it was important, but then again it probably wasn't. If it was, they'd be sure to make sure she was following.

Neo would catch up to them later. Instead, she decided she'd take a look around. Maybe stop by their assigned dorm room.

And who knows, maybe she'd come across this "Team RWBY" she had heard so much about.

* * *

**A/N: About two weeks ago or so I asked the RWBY subreddit for ideas for a fic I would write for on a consistent basis to challenge myself in a sense. I got a lot of suggestions and some of them I really liked. However, I wanted to only pick one to start off with and after some time thinking about what inspired me most to write... I decided on this. A Neo centric story. An AU of sorts, if you will. Shoutout and credit to users /u/****Pozsich, /u/Jonathan_the_Nerd and /u/Zacky007 for the idea and base concept.**

**I plan to try and follow a release schedule for this as much as possible (as long as my IRL schedule doesn't go wonky). A chapter each Thursday is what I'm aiming for here. I'm not too sure on what the average length will be though, so I suppose we'll just have to see how that goes.**

**FULL COVER IMAGE CREDIT TO ****いえすぱ ON PIXIV ( member_ ?mode=medium&amp;illust_id=46300044 )**


	2. Seeing Red

**A/N: Thank you to those who have reviewed, favorited and followed this so far. It's great motivation to see people are interested in this.**

**As I said in the previous chapter, I'm not entirely sure what the average chapter length will be yet. I'm gonna start off slow and steady and not set a minimum word limit for myself _quite yet._ For now I'll be focusing getting chapters out on a weekly basis.**

* * *

What to do to pass the time was the question here.

Neo planned to drop by the assigned dorm for them, but doing just that wouldn't take very much time at all.

Humming a quiet, cheery tune to herself, she contemplated her options as she walked towards the nearest dormitory entrance she could see. All the while she had a slight skip to her step.

The farther she got away from the landing bays, the less other Haven students she saw. By the time she was at the dormitory building entrance she appeared to be the only one among the crowd donning the Haven student attire.

In turn, she got occasional curious glances in her direction as the Beacon students went to and from. Whether she was getting these glances due to to her being a Haven student lingering around the dormitory where only resident students resided or because of her height, she wasn't sure.

Oh well. Typical.

Pushing open the wooden double doors into the building, Neo stopped humming and entered before letting the doors close behind her with a creak and a click. From there she continued onward until she reached an intersection in the hall. Stopping right before she left that section of the hallway, she leaned forward to look down the halls that split off to her left.

Nope. Empty.

Before she could look the opposite direction however...

She heard a voice from the right.

Standing up straight, Neo watched as a girl in a red cloak walked by her going straight on ahead as she balanced a stack of books in her arms. It looked like there was a board game of sorts on top of the stack as well.

"Stupid text books..." The girl muttered to herself, managing to keep the stack balanced so far. She passed Neo, either not noticing her or paying her no mind.

Interesting.

Neo smiled, holding both her parasol and small bag in one hand as she followed the red cloaked girl. She didn't follow too close, but not too far either. At first she didn't notice, keeping herself in the zone by trying not to spill her books and board game. Shortly before she was to round another corner, the girl halted.

And so did Neo.

Not really being able to look over her shoulder very well, the girl in the cloak awkwardly shuffled around doing a 180 degree turn to face her.

"Uh... Hi?" She sounded awkward already. Unsure how to react, perhaps? She gave Neo a smile in an attempt to match her own.

When Neo gave no verbal response, the girl's gaze briefly flicked to the right. She didn't sound very talkative, did she?

"Are you... one of the exchange students?" She asked. "'Cause you kinda look one!" No response, just a shrug. The girl chuckled quietly and awkwardly. "You aren't the one for talk, ain'tcha'?" She asked, her smile faltering a bit.

She had no idea.

Rolling her eyes, Neo suddenly began to walk again. Past her she went, happening to round the corner the girl was going to. Blinking in surprise, the girl began to shuffle around again to follow. "I'm going to take that as a 'no...'" She sighed under her breath.

Judging by the fact she had a stack of books with her, Neo assumed she would be on her way to a library of sorts. Might as well follow - it would be a good idea to know where various facilities were.

Speeding up a bit to catch up with Neo, the girl spoke again. "Well I'm Ruby! Leader of Team RWBY- _woah!_" As a result of trying to catch up and keep pace with Neo, Ruby had let the balance of her stack of books falter a bit too much. On the verge of tipping as Ruby frantically tried to steady herself and the stack, Neo smirked softly.

She reached up, letting her finger touch the top of the stack as it swayed dangerously.

Balance.

The stack stopped swaying, Neo managing to help balance it just enough to allow Ruby to steady it the rest of the way. Ruby blinked in surprise, her pace slowing down a bit. That was a close one.

"Wow, thanks!" Ruby thanked the shorter girl, speeding up pace again as to not lag too far behind as she led her to round another corner.

"That would've been a big mess." Ruby added, earning herself a nod. Ruby exhaled, then continued. "So yeah! You're a student from Atlas huh?" A nod in response.

"Oh, well, that's great! I'm sure you'll love it here." Ruby smiled warmly, looking in her direction every few moments. "What's your name?"

Silence.

An awkward silence set in, Ruby quickly realizing she probably _wasn't_ going to get an answer. She let out another awkward chuckle. "... Too soon?"

A nod and a slight glance in her direction.

"Uhhh... Oh!" Ruby slowed herself down to a halt, shifting the stack of books in her arms so one arm was a bit more free. "I heard some teaches talking about the exchange student assembly?" She pointed with her thumb over her shoulder best she could, probably indicating it was taking place _somewhere_ in that direction. "And if your a Haven student I guess that's something you'd be interested in! Heh...?"

Neo halted, turning around to face the girl who was pointing her in the general direction of this assembly.

Perhaps that was where the other three were headed?

"I think it's starting really soon, so I bet if you hurry you could make it in time." Ruby added, allowing her free arm to go back to helping support her stack of books.

_"Don't draw attention to yourselves"_ Cinder would say. Would not showing up for the assembly draw attention? Who would care if a single, measly student didn't show up for the more-than-likely boring speech anyway?

Cinder would, she supposed.

With a grin and a nod of acknowledgement, Neo walked past Ruby back the way they had come. Once she was far enough away, she would activate her semblance.

She didn't even have time to stop by their dorm and leave her bag.

What a bother.

"Uhhh... You're welcome!" Ruby said aloud as Neo began to walk away. She was quick to realize that she had still failed to get the silent girl's name however. Quickly she began to shuffle around again to face the direction she was leaving. "Wait! I still didn-"

Ruby turned around just in time to see Neo warp away with a quick flash of light.

* * *

**FULL COVER IMAGE CREDIT TO いえすぱ ON PIXIV ( member_ ?mode=medium&amp;illust_id=46300044 )**


	3. Speeches & Orders

Cinder, Emerald and Mercury stood among the crowd of Haven students which over the course of awhile had gathered into the assembly hall. Chatter among the students filled the room, giving it a rather lively feeling.

Cinder on the other hand scanned around for any sign of a certain short girl with multicolored hair. Undoubtedly Neo had ceased following them before they had entered the building. Her straying from their path wasn't much of a _problem_ this particular time. However...

Did she _say_ she could walk off and run amok without permission?

Certainly not.

"Where is she?" Cinder muttered aloud, giving her two associates a glance.

"I dunno," Mercury replied, his attention caught by a certain teacher walking up onto the stage and over to the microphone stand. "But speech is about to begin."

Emerald scoffed, crossing her arms. "What did we expect? I seriously wonder how Roman puts u-"

A tap on her shoulder.

Emerald's eyes widened in surprise. Instinctively she stepped forward, turning around to face whoever had made contact with her.

Lo and behold, it was Neo. Curiously and innocently she smiled at Emerald, her head tilted to the side a bit to further add to the innocent and curious look.

Realizing it was only her, Emerald let herself relax. "Where did you-?!" She tried to ask but Cinder cut her off.

"Where have you been?" Cinder spoke, her tone sounding rather dangerous at the end.

Despite her tone, Neo was fixiated on something else behind Cinder.

"Neo." Cinder hissed, her irises becoming fiery once more as her temper flared. "Are you listening to me-"

Neo quickly raised a finger to cut Cinder off, much to both Emerald and Mercury's surprise.

The girl had some guts, that's for sure.

Cinder's lips curled into a scowl as Neo slipped by her, moving behind her so she had a better view of the stage. Standing on the tips of her toes, she was at least somewhat able to see what was about to begin.

**"Welcome, students of Haven, to Beacon Academy."** The light blonde haired professor began, speaking into the microphone stand set up. The room fell relatively silent, all eyes on her. **"My name is Professor Glynda Goodwitch."** The professor's eyes scanned the crowd before her as she introduced herself to the exchange students. **"I, along with the other teachers of this prestigious academy, will be helping to see to it that your time here will be a successful one."** She paused, taking a moment to push her glasses a bit farther up the bridge of her nose. **"As such, it is in all your best interests to behave yourselves during your time here. You are among future Huntsmen and Huntresses, much like yourselves; therefor you are expected to treat them as so."**

As Glynda droned on with her speech, Neo tuned it out a bit. She could hear Mercury and Emerald whispering to each other behind her. What they were whispering about exactly, she couldn't tell. She couldn't hear Cinder either- no doubt she was glaring daggers at the back of her head right now.

She'd probably end up being dragged into a 'talk' with Cinder after this.

As if she cared.

* * *

Mercury and Emerald exited the dormroom, keeping the chatter between themselves. They were now in their regular attire, having finally headed back after Glynda had dismissed all the Haven students from the assembly. It was at this point that they had the rest of the late afternoon and the evening to spend however they wished. More or less, anyways.

Following the two out of the exchange student dormroom was Neo. She was also back in her regular attire, much to her relief. It was good to be back in her own clothes.

Pulling her right shirt sleeve down a bit farther then it already was, Neo glanced over her shoulder just as the dorm door shut with a quiet thud.

That woman meant business; it came as no surprise. She was devious, cunning, _controlling._ She wanted obedience, and she would find a way to drill it into her head, she was pretty sure. Or at least, she could try.

Letting out a _"hmmph"_ of distaste for the woman, Neo turned her head to watch Emerald and Mercury walk off and round the corner out of sight. To the Void with them. She'd find something to do to waste away the hours by herself.

Beginning to walk again with no real purpose away from the dormroom, Neo began to think over her options yet again. What kinda things to do or see would they have here?

A library was the first to came to mind. Too boring, honestly.

Training facility? Unnecessary to her, but potentially an interesting passtime.

Delving deeper into thought, Neo's mind was drawing up blanks on what possibly else there was to do here. Attempting to mingle with some others was a possible choice, but on its own it sounded so... boring.

She was brought out of her thoughts by a sudden female voice that pierced the relative silence. Snapping back to reality, Neo brought herself to a halt of curiosity as a orange haired girl skipped along with a black haired Asian boy following behind.

"I tooold you this was a shortcut!~" The girl chirped, gaining no real response from the boy. He paid Neo no mind as they passed, but the girl on the other hand let out an "Oh!" and stopped skipping. Quickly turning on her heels, the girl with short orange hair hurried back over to Neo.

Neo smiled at the slightly taller girl.

What did she _want?_

"I haven't seen you around here!" The girl bent down slightly, just enough to be right at eye level with her. She eyed her with glee, as if taking in all her features.

"She's probably an exchange student, Nora." The boy said next, sounding much more calm then his partner. An interesting pair indeed.

"Ooh, an exchange student?" Nora stood back up straight. "Where are you from?" She suddenly put a finger on her chin in thought. "Atlas? What about Vacuo?"

Neo shrugged. This Nora girl sounded like she asked a lot of questions. Not exactly feeling like attempting to answer any of them, she simply gave her a dismissive wave of her hand and began to walk away. That was easy.

For a moment Nora stood in silence, watching the shorter girl just walk away with such confidence!

"The mysterious type..." In an instant Nora's face lit up with enthusiasm. "I like it!" She looked to her partner, giving him a poke on the chest and causing him to blink a few times in both mild surprise and exasperation. "Come on Ren, let's go!" Without waiting for any response of any sort, she once again began to skip away towards their previous destination.

Ren sighed and shook his head, beginning to follow the enthusiastic girl once more.

* * *

**FULL COVER IMAGE CREDIT TO いえすぱ ON PIXIV ( member_ ?mode=medium&amp;illust_id=46300044 )**


	4. Dinnertime Happenings

**A/N:**

**To reviewer "Umbrardor": How I'm portraying Neo is a mix of what I've observed of her so far from the little screentime she's had and a personal spin off a few headcanons for her personality that I've seen. The latter I'm trying to keep somewhat subtle at first, to which I hope to bring more out of as Neo develops through the fic. But yes, she will have her sadistic spurts at times. ****As for your question, the best answer I can give atm is to stick around and find out.**

**To reviewer "****patrick the almighty observer": Once again, stick around and find out. :P**

* * *

Night time had fallen upon Beacon Academy once more. It was relatively quiet and peaceful, save for the occasional engine roar of an airship in the distance as it flew to and from. Not many students were out and about on outdoor campus grounds at this hour, many sticking to their indoor tasks away from the gaze of the shattered moon above.

Team CNEM on one hand was on their way towards the cafeteria building.

"I'm _starving._" Mercury said, putting sarcastic emphasis on the 'starving' part as he broke the silence save for their footsteps against the stone path.

"Yes, Mercury." Emerald deadpanned, her annoyance apparent in her voice. She didn't even bother to look in his direction. "Thanks for reminding us again. Not like you did that five minutes ago or anything." Her tone became more of a sarcastic one at that point.

Mercury gave a scoff, one almost cocky in nature. "What? You counting the minutes since you've last heard my sweet, sweet voice?" He asked, a smug grin on his face as he sped up pace a bit so he was in Emerald's line of sight.

In response, Emerald shot him a glare. Their banter continued as Cinder paid them relatively no mind. Instead she was set on her path in silence. She looked as if almost in thought.

Neo rolled her eyes. Emerald and Mercury's banter was plain laughable at times, such as now. She was walking with the three, albeit more off to the side from them. She didn't like the idea of being too clustered together with them right now.

It wasn't long before they arrived at their destination. With one solid push Cinder opened the double doors leading into the cafeteria building. They were greeted with the sight of... well, not much. The place was relatively quiet and empty except for the few clusters of people sitting together scattered about.

Funny. Neo expected this place to be a bit more lively.

"Looks like we'll be getting plenty of leg room." Mercury mused, his eyes scanning the room as the students already situated there paid them no mind.

"Come on." Cinder spoke next, mildly surprising Neo with her sudden words. Shaking it off, Neo followed Cinder and the other two to where the food was being served. It didn't take very long for them to get their meals on their trays before they were faced with finding their spots to sit. That didn't take very long either, as they were soon seated at a vacant table.

Neo looked down at her tray of food sitting on the table before her. Mashed potatoes, cooked carrots and peas, some chicken...

It would do.

Being mindful of her manners, Neo began to dig in. Her legs swayed back and forth under the table, her shoes unfortunately not quite touching the ground. Once again she drowned out the others in her team, not interested in what they had to say.

What _did_ catch her interest however, was the fact that Ruby girl appeared to be sitting with three other individuals at another table within earshot of her's.

She gave them a glance; just a quick one. She wasn't sure if they had noticed her or the other three.

Mentally shrugging it off, she returned to her food. She kept listening in though, picking up bits and pieces from their conversation. It was when she was about half way done with her food when she realized that, at this point, they _had_ noticed her.

And were talking about her.

"You mean the girl you were talking about?" Neo heard the girl with yellow hair say.

"Yep..." The red cloaked girl she knew as Ruby responded, briefly glancing in her direction before realizing Neo was now looking in her direction. Panicking a little bit, Ruby returned her gaze to the blonde. "I think she noticed us." She whispered.

The blonde looked between Ruby and the girl she had spoken of a few times as Neo pretended not to care about what they spoke of. Suddenly the girl with lilac eyes stood up, surprising Ruby and another girl with white hair.

"What are you planning?" The girl in white asked, sounding somewhat concerned- probably for her own well being, Neo suspected.

"She's probably just shy." The blonde replied with an almost matter of fact tone. "Kinda like Blakey here." She made a point by gesturing to the girl sitting next to her, whom had a bow atop her head and her face buried in the pages of a book. Said girl with a bow glanced up from her novel, looking rather out of it. "What?"

"Anyways." The blonde continued, not responding to the darker haired girl. "Come on Rubes, we're gonna go break the ice," She paused and winked at the girl in white, earning herself a facepalm from her before she continued. "And welcome her and her friends to Beacon!"

"Wait, wha-?!" Ruby barely had a chance to protest on the matter before the taller girl was practically dragging her over to their table.

Oh joy.

Neo looked to her side at Mercury, Emerald and Cinder to see how long it would take them to notice that two girls were headed their way. Emerald and Mercury fell silent relatively quickly upon noticing the duo and Cinder turned her head slightly to watch them approach.

Neo watched the blonde drag Ruby over, a confident grin etched on her face. "Hello!" The girl greeted.

"Hey." Mercury nonchalantly returned the greeting. Emerald shot Cinder a glance, an almost hesitant one in nature, before also returning the greeting. "Hi."

Cinder seemed to have acknowledged Emerald's hesitant glance. She nodded to the two, eyeing them. "Hello."

Neo didn't bother with any sort of introduction. Instead she had her eye on Ruby, who shot her a sheepish and awkward smile. As if silently saying "this wasn't my idea".

Sensing a pair of eyes on her, Neo turned her attention to the blonde. "My names Yang!" She introduced in what appeared to be her regular perky manner. "And I think you and my lil' sister have met." She promptly let Ruby's arm go from her grip. "But you left before she could get your name, yeah?" She asked, looking between the two people in question a few times. She didn't sound angry or demanding, but instead encouraging. Nudging for a proper introduction between the two.

Neo pursed her lips at the blonde. Did they really want her to introduce herself?

An awkward silence began to set in. Yang gazed at Neo expectantly, the moments of silence passing telling her that she wasn't going to respond. Her bright, cheery smile faltered a bit and she looked to her side at Ruby.

"Uhh... Well," Ruby rubbed the back of her neck nervously, digging the ball of her foot into the floor a bit. "You don't have to tell us if-"

"Her name is Neo." Cinder spoke up finally, spilling the silent girl's name at last. Ruby's face lit up, happy to have at least learned her name. Neo's eyes widened in surprise, causing her to turn her head to look at her with an almost accusing frown.

Great job, Cinder.

"Really?" Ruby questioned, new found curiosity in her voice now. "Kinda like that cool scifi movie chara-"

"_Neopolitan._" Mercury cut the younger girl off, leaning back in his seat somewhat. "Her name is Neopolitan. Neo just easier to say, don't you think?" He questioned, a certain amount of sarcasm dripping from his words.

Yang shook her head, putting her palm to her face in response to Ruby's antics. Quite frankly, Neo felt like doing the same.

"Right." Ruby mumbled under her breath, trying to recover from her "duh!" moment.

"Well, Neo is a pretty _cool_ name." Yang chimed in, her warm smile reappearing. Neo rolled her eyes in response, suspecting she was attempting to make a pun out of her namesake.

Ruby giggled, nodding in agreement with her sister. "Yeah. Where are you guys from?"

"We're from Haven." Emerald answered, speaking for the first time in the conversation.

"Great!" Ruby grinned. The conversation was becoming much smoother now. "My partner is from Atlas." She said, her voice promptly becoming quieter. "Her name is Weiss."

As if on cue, Neo heard a "What?" in a feminine voice come from the direction Ruby and Yang's table was in.

A girl named Weiss from Atlas. Funny. Neo had a sneaking suspicion who it was.

"Interesting." Cinder replied, sounding like she was making at least some attempt to sound interested.

Emerald looked to Cinder. "Wow, Cinder, would you look at the time. I think we better head back." She said as she stood up. She kept her voice casual, but Neo could tell she was trying to break them away from the two.

"Sleep calls." Mercury told Ruby and Yang with a shrug, beginning to stand up. Neo nodded in agreement, doing the same.

"Indeed." Cinder stood up, pushing her tray away from herself slightly.

"Oh, right." Ruby chuckled lightly in an awkward manner.

"You guys get classes tomorrow, right?" Yang asked the four.

"Yep." Mercury replied simply, already beginning to walk away towards the cafeteria room exit. Finally. Neo followed after, giving the two a brief wave of her hand as a goodbye.

"Perhaps we'll see you around." Cinder told the sisters as she and Emerald followed after Mercury and Neo.

Yang gave them a wave. "Definitely!"

Ruby did the same. "Yeah, guess we'll see you around!"

The four exited the cafeteria building, and once they were all out, Emerald let the door close behind them. Once more they were outside in the dim light, the shattered moon shining down upon them.

"Rather nosey, aren't they?" Emerald commented as Cinder led them back towards the dormitories.

"Very." Cinder replied, sounding somewhat indifferent to the matter.

Neo had a feeling she'd be seeing them quite a bit during her time here.

* * *

Neo rolled over on her bed, now laying on her side facing the wall. She was dressed in her sleeping clothes, mainly consisting of an oversized light pink t-shirt and brown short-shorts. It was close to midnight now, Neo figured. The curtains were closed, allowing only a crack of moonlight to peer into the room. Neo thought Cinder, Emerald and Mercury to be asleep, but she couldn't be bothered to check or care that much.

Letting out a quiet huff of discontent, Neo rolled over again so she was laying on her back. Peering up at the white ceiling with her mismatched eyes, Neo began to contemplate for a reason why she was feeling so... _wrong._

She stayed there without moving for what seemed like minutes, until a sudden muffled buzzing sound broke the silence and her train of thought.

There it was.

A smile forming on her lips, Neo sat up and reached back to feel under her pillow. Locating her scroll, Neo slipped it out and opened it. The scroll lit up, causing Neo to look away momentarily to avoid practically blinding herself with the sudden brightness. It took a few seconds, but her eyes quickly adjusted to the light. Looking back at her screen, she opened up the messaging window which was the source of the buzz.

_**Roman (Dad):**_ _Evening Neo. You awake?_

Neo began typing back a response, her fingers moving swiftly across the screen. Neo always saw Roman as a fatherly type figure and fondly referred to him as so when it was just the two of them. After all, he was there to help her through tough times when her biological parents failed to be there.

_**Me:** Of course._

It wasn't like many knew of it, however. Not even Cinder, Neo was certain. She chose not to express it with others around in public. After all, a relationship like that could be used and exploited as a weakness.

_**Roman (Dad):** Good to hear. Hows that school of yours? Didn't get yourself into trouble without me yet did ya?_

Rolling her eyes, Neo typed another response.

_**Me:** It's interesting. There's a lot of people here. Some more interesting then others._

_**Me:** Are you implying I would get into trouble on the first day of school? Preposterous._

Neo laid herself back down on her back, holding her scroll up above her so she could still see and use it.

_**Roman (Dad):** I've known you long enough to say otherwise. If you see that Red gal, be sure to give her a solid whack on the back of the head for me would ya?_

Noted.

_**Me:** Will do. ;)_

_**Me:** How's that Atlessian thing going, hm?_

_**Roman (Dad):** My supplier is working on it, but the rats in the white fang are starting to get impatient. If only they knew the crap I had to go through to find the damn guy._

_**Roman (Dad):** Speaking of that, think you'll be able to slip away one of these nights for the grand unveiling?_

_**Me:** Easily. Let me know when and I'll do it._

_**Roman (Dad):** That's the girl I know._

_**Roman (Dad):** I've got one more shop to hit tonight. I'll talk to ya later Neo._

_**Me:** Try not to get yourself killed, will you?_

_**Roman (Dad):** Since when was there a chance of that eh?_

_**Roman (Dad):** Goodnight Neo._

_**Me:** Good night, __

Neo hesitated for a moment, looking up from the brightness of her screen and instead towards the bed which Cinder rest on. Shaking the feeling of uncertainty off, Neo finished and sent the message.

_**Me:** Good night, Dad._

* * *

**A/N: Wow, would you look at that. A chapter that's roughly standard length for once!**

**I was faced with figuring out how I wanted to portray Roman and Neo's relationship. It was either lover, close friend or a fatherly figure of sorts. It's pretty obvious which route I went with. And who knows, maybe I delve deeper into their father-daughter relationship at one point. Would that be something you guys, my readers, would be interested in seeing farther down the line?**

**FULL COVER IMAGE CREDIT TO いえすぱ ON PIXIV ( member_ ?mode=medium&amp;illust_id=46300044 )**


	5. 11 o' Clock Skirmish

**_*RIIIIIIING*_**

"Hm... Right on time." A formally dressed man with short light pink hair stood before his class students. To his pupils, he was known as Professor Peach.

Along the fourth row of seats in the classroom sat Neo, resting both of her elbows on the desk in front of her. Her notebook and pencil were at the ready for notes and such before her, but truth be told she had yet to feel the need to take notes in the classes she had been in so far. Instead, whenever she got the chance, she would draw and sketch. It was never really extravagant for that matter, either. What she felt no interest in saying verbally, she would sometimes put onto paper. Delicate and perceise strokes of her hand and pencil expressing what went on in that head of her's when words could not.

It was Neo's second day here and already she was struggling to adjust to the mundane schedule imposed on her. She had heard a plentiful amount of interesting and exciting stories and tales stemming from Beacon Academy, but perhaps it had slipped her mind that the more exciting activities such as actually fighting were accompanied by the more... boring things.

Luckily for her though, the bell had rung and signaled the end of class.

"Well, my students!" Prof. Peach spoke clear and firm to keep the attention of the class for just a few moments longer, many of them already beginning to gather their belongings to leave the classroom.

"It seems our lecture on Aura and Dust combinations finished just in time, did it not?" Peach ran his fingers through his hair, gesturing towards the exit to show the students may leave. "Remember those assignments I have given you! I expect them neatly on my desk on time!"

With that, he gained a collective although somewhat unenthusiastic acknowledgement from the students as all of them began to file out. Neo was among them, her notebook held firmly in her hand.

Classes for the most part were done with for the day. Once again, Neo was left to her own devices until the evening roll around once more. She began to head back towards the dormitory at a leisurely pace, deciding to take the more scenic route back to the dorm. She _really_ should have been 'studying' for these various school work pieces being piled onto her, but yet again it felt rather pointless. It wasn't like she necessarily had to memorize and drill the knowledge into her head. All she had to do to succeed was _pass._ One way or another.

Neo walked along the halls of the building, intending to head to the other side of said structure. She figured there to be another building exit somewhere on the other side, so her time wasn't to be entirely wasted from taking the scenic route like this. The bulk of the other students going to and from clustered together quickly thinned out, soon leaving Neo to her thoughts.

Turning a corner, as if on cue, the sound of a yelling voice from not too far off broke the silence.

"Bullshit!"

Sounded awfully like a certain blonde she had recently met.

Her curiosity peaked, Neo's pace hurried along until she found herself ar a pair of double doors which had been left wide open along the hallway. She stepped into the doorway, mismatched eyes scanning curiously upon what she saw.

The room itself appeared to be a training room of sorts. In the center of the room was an area marked with lightly colored tape, probably signifying the sparring area. Around it were various things that would would expect to find in a room such as this. A few reinforced practice dummys, a healthy supply of weights, among other things. By the doors along the walls were some benches, allowing those spectating a spar to sit or allowing a place for tired students to take a moment to rest.

A rather tensed and angry looking Yang stood in front of a rather tall armored fellow. While Yang glared at him, her lilac eyes narrowed and her lips curled into an angry frown, the boy seemed surprisingly... confident. Almost smug, one would say. He grinned at the blonde, otherwise acting rather nonchalant. "What kinda proof do you have against me?"

From behind Yang, a girl with dark colored hair and a bow atop her head to match was making some sort of attempt to pull Yang away from him. Her hand planted firmly on Yang's shoulder, the brunette did not make contact with him not even once.

"I saw what you did to that Faunus girl!" Yang was practically seething. Literally. Neo could tell. "The Faunus are **_not_** animals, Cardin."

"Yang, wait." The other girl gave Yang's shoulder a tug. "Fighting him is pointless. Don't waste your energy on someone like _him._" Her voice became more hushed, yet remained firm and strong the entire time.

"Look, Blake," Yang gave the girl in question a glance over her shoulder. "If I don't, then who will?" She raised her hand in quick dismissal, causing Blake to slip her hand off Yang's shoulder.

Perhaps there was truth in the blonde's words?

Cardin scoffed, acting as if Yang's words meant nothing to him. "Did you even see her horns? She looked like some sorta farm cow or something!" He began to walk past Yang to exit, and Neo could already tell Yang was a mere couple seconds from stopping him forcefully. Before she could, however...

Cardin paused, squinting at the much, much smaller Neo.

"Eh?" He raised a brow at the mismatched girl. "Who's the kid?"

Neo gazed at him, keeping steady eye contact. She put her hand on her upper chest and widening her eyes slightly, making fake offense to his choice of words.

"Neo?" Yang asked, her voice suddenly somewhat softer then how it was prior to making herself known.

"She isn't a kid." Blake deadpanned, her attention turned towards Cardin and Neo now. "You shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, Cardin." Her voice was serious, as if warning in nature. This amused Neo to a degree, as her words of wisdom were strangely true. Many times have people underestimated her simply because of her height. Countless times she has proven each and every one of them wrong. Each and every one of them met their defeat at her hand.

Perhaps this Cardin fellow would like to be added to the list?

"But she's just so... tiny!" Cardin's lips twisted into a smirk, followed by a cruel chuckle. Neo gave a small, mischievous smirk in response- though Cardin didn't seem to notice.

Ah, the poor sap.

Moving to one of the benches off to the side, Neo picked up an open Scroll which had been left there, presumably by one of the other three people present in the room. Setting her notebook down for a moment, Neo briskly switched the device on and let her hand glide across the screen as she typed something into a note taking application.

Yang, Blake and Cardin watched as Neo did this. Cardin looked the most confused, his brows furrowed at her. "What in the Void are you doing?"

With perfect timing, Neo ceased typing. Letting her eyes quickly skim over what she had written to confirm it was correct for a moment, Neo picked up her notebook and walked over to Cardin with open scroll in hand.

Before he could further question what she was up to, Neo turned the scroll over so that he may read what was written.

**_"You. Me. Courtyard. Hour before curfew."_**

Neo's grin turned into a soft smirk as she watched his expression turn into that of confusion. Now, it was just a matter of him accepting her challenge. Shoving the Scroll to him and making him accept it, Neo turned and began making her exit.

"Neo wait!" Yang called out, realizing she was departing again. She sprinted over to the room exit in an attempt to catch up to her and make her stop just right as she rounded the corner and went out of sight.

Unfortunately for her, Yang stopped in the doorway only to discover Neo was nowhere to be found. She looked down both ways down the hall, now looking confused herself.

Blake went up next to her, raising a brow in curious confusion. "What was that all about?"

While the two girls stood in the doorway, Cardin let out a small scoff to himself.

"An hour before curfew..."

* * *

Cardin stood in front of the statue in the courtyard, his mace in hand and resting on his shoulder. He watched in the light of the moon as Neo stepped out to meet him.

"Hey shorty! What's this crap all about?" Cardin called out, a grin of sure confidence forming on his lips as Neo casually strolled towards him. He was suited in the same attire as he was before when they had met prior, his cardinal emblem on his chest-plate practically gleaming in the moonlight. Unlike before however, she was also dressed in her regular attire. Much more freedom of movement, in her opinion.

In her hand Neo twirled her closed parasol effortlessly without any trouble at all. As she got closer she began to size up her soon-to-be competition.

"... Did you hear me, kid?" Cardin further spoke, now sounding annoyed at the lack of response he got. Neo ceased walking in front of him, both of them locking eyes. He looked down at her while she looked up at him.

"Are you deaf-"

Before he could even finish question of mockery, Neo suddenly stopped twirling her parasol. In the blink of an eye with a surprising amount of force, Neo swung her parasol upward.

_Right where it hurts._

With a satisfying howl of pain, Cardin staggered back as his grip on his mace hilt tightened immensely. His free hand going to his groin, he suddenly looked a lot more angry then he was only moments ago.

"You little...!" Cardin spat, quickly raising his weapon above his head in an attempt to bring it down full force upon the much smaller girl. She dodged it with ease, jumping back a far enough distance from him to allow herself a bit of legroom. His mace collided with the concrete instead, causing a fairly large crack in the concrete where it connected.

He glared forward, watching as Neo used her momentum from her jump to spin herself around on one foot a few times, opening her parasol midway through the spin and ending it with a courteous bow and a smirk.

Now... Would he accept the challenge?

"Grahh!" Cardin practically roared, throwing himself into a full charge towards her with his mace once again poised to strike upon her.

Standing up straight again, once he was mere seconds away from being within range of her she made another jump back.

This time, she vanished into a flash of light.

It taking a moment for him to realize she had vanished, Cardin proceeded to slow himself down, almost struggling to due to his momentum. "What th-?!"

***WHACK!***

With another satisfying cry of pain, Cardin's legs finally buckled underneath him as he dropped his weapon, letting both his hands go to his groin. Neo had reappeared behind him, hitting him right where it hurts with a solid and swift kick from behind.

Ah, that felt good.

Cardin now lay on his side curled up, a drawn out groan of pain escaping from his throat. Neo stepped over, looming over him with her open parasol resting on her shoulder. He let out a hiss, beginning to try and recover by starting to prop himself up with his arm. "What the fuck was that about?!" He scowled, looking as if he was trying not to shudder from the passing pain resonating from his groin area.

Neo rolled her eyes, moving a hand to reach into her pocket. Out from said pocket she pulled a neatly folded note written on a white piece of paper. Giving it a quick flick of her wrist to unfold it, she held bent down slightly and held it out to him, all the while with that grin on her face.

Saying nothing, he snatched the note away from her. Prying his gaze away, he looked down at what was written on it.

**_"That was for calling me short. :)"_**

Cardin promptly let out a growl, seemingly ticking him off more then he already was. Clenching his fist and crumpling the paper up into a tiny ball, he swiftly began to move to lunge at her with his fist poised to attempt to beat her to a pulp.

Acting on twitch reaction, Neo immediately moved to deliver a fast kick to his side in retaliation.

That is, until a familiar feminine voice yelled out from behind her.

**"Neopolitan! Cardin!"**

This obtrusive voiced caused Neo to hesitate and slow just enough to allow Cardin an opportunity to get back. Using the fist he had planned to strike her with, he grabbed her leg and in one fluid movement swung her around to send her flying back behind him.

Unfortunately, this worked. Being as light as she was truly was a curse sometimes.

Fortunately for her, her semblance did just the trick.

Surprised by the sudden turn of the table, she had only a millisecond to save herself from hitting the stone ground. Neo triggered her semblance, teleporting herself a bit farther back and reorienting herself to come out of it and land properly on her own two feet - albeit somewhat stunned by it, which was shown by her almost shocked look on her face.

Realizing just who the voice had come from, Cardin staggered to his feet in a somewhat exaggerated manner. Not painfully obvious he was doing so, but Neo could tell. "Professor Goodwitch!"

Glynda Goodwitch strided over closer to the scene, her riding crop weapon held firmly in hand. "What is the meaning of this?" She sounded annoyed and stern in nature.

Neo straightened herself out, regaining her relatively collected composure in an instant. She closed her parasol, giving it a few twirls in her hand as if to act natural. Cardin on the other hand gave the shorter girl a glance. "She attacked me for no reason."

"Is that so?" Glynda questioned, eyeing Neo for a moment. Neo made a "tsk" sound with her tongue, narrowing her eyes in an accusing fashion towards Cardin.

Taking a quick glance over the scene, Glynda seemed quick to notice the crumpled up piece of paper Cardin had dropped before attempting to lunge at Neo. She walked over to it, kneeling down and picking it up with her free hand. Glancing at Neo briefly, she proceeded to un-crumple the note and read over the few words written on it. Her eyes narrowed, now looking like she was in some serious thought on what to do about the situation.

"Hmph." Glynda let out a noise of disapproval, slipping the paper away out of sight into her clothing. "Both of you," The teacher began, already beginning to walk away back towards the main school building entrance. "Come with me."

Neo shot Cardin a glare of distaste and annoyance, to which Cardin returned; albeit a bit more smug in nature.

Cardin should have considered himself _lucky._ Saved by the teacher he was.

* * *

**FULL COVER IMAGE CREDIT TO いえすぱ ON PIXIV ( member_ ?mode=medium&amp;illust_id=46300044 )**


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